Sinister Wisdom Launch Event

Join us for the launch event for Sinister Wisdom 118: Forty-Five Years / A Tribute to the Lesbian Herstory Archives.

Forty-five years ago movements of liberation made possible the birth of a new project in the world, the Lesbian Herstory Archives. In Sinister Wisdom 118 are some of the founding stories, telling what it meant to walk first into an apartment and later into a four-story limestone building, where shame became history, secrets became shared connections and complex lesbian, queer histories were enriched by maintaining intergenerational community. A grassroots collection, the Archives was intentional about engaging with all facets and complexities of lesbian life, inclusive of diversity in race and gender-identity, from the bar life of the fifties and before, to the lesbian-feminist cultural richness of the mid-twentieth century and beyond, to the gender richness of the twenty-first. This issue honors an Archives that articulates the complexities of how lesbians make our way in the world.

The event will feature readings by co-founders Joan Nestle and Deborah Edel along with additional readings by Elana Dykewomon, Lucinda Zoe, Linda McKinney, Morgan Gwenwald, Stefani Echeverria-Fenn. Representatives of Little Rainbows: Alexis Clements, with Catalina Schliebener, Ellen Baxt, Luciana Pinchiero, and Elvis Bakaitis.

Hosted by Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz.

With visuals from LHA Coordinators past and present.

Live closed captioning will be available.

Co-sponsored by Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Lesbian Literary & Art Journal, the Lesbian Herstory Archives, CLAGS: Center for LGBTQ Studies, and the NYU Division of Libraries.

This event is presented as part of NYUWomxn100, which celebrates the lives, pursuits, innovations, and achievements of womxn of transgender, non-binary, and cisgender experiences. We honor womxn who have been historically overlooked in their pursuits, innovations, and accomplishments across our global communities.